as soon as it was discreet to do so.

All hands having been paid off, excepting the mate and
three apprentices, the task of cooking fell upon the
cabin-boy. He always had to do this when in a home port;
that was another of his many functions, and not the least of
them, which caused him very frequently to come to grief,
though this young man had been impressed with the importance
of learning to cook, amongst other things, long before he
left home, so that, as a rule, he got along fairly well
whenever it became his duty to work up a plain meal, which
usually consisted of soup and doboys, that is, small
dumplings boiled in the soup with the beef. A double-decker
sea-pie was not only a favourite mess, but was considered
even a luxury at that time, and most sailor-boys could cook
it. It was made in a large pan or in the galley coppers, and
consisted of the following ingredients: A layer of potatoes,
small pieces of beef and onions well seasoned with pepper
and salt, and covered over with water; then a deck of paste
with a hole in the middle to allow the water to have free
access, then more potatoes, beef, onions, and kidney, and
then the final deck of paste, and a suitable amount of water
were added. It was quite a common thing whilst these
exploits of cookery were going on, for the skinflint skipper
to stand over the boy, and if he detected him taking too
thick a skin from the potato, he was lucky if he got off
with a severe reprimand. It was usually an open-handed blow,
intended sternly to enforce economy. Well, the vessel had
been in port four days, and many acquaintances had been made
by the cabin-boy, who had given his confidences to a select